Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 106(A)
1 Praise the Lord!
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good,
for His mercy endures forever.
2 Who can recount the mighty acts of the Lord
or declare all His praise?
3 Blessed are those who keep justice
and who do righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O Lord, when You give favor to Your people;
visit me with Your deliverance,
5 that I may see the goodness over Your chosen ones,
that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
that I may glory with Your inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our fathers;
we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedly.
7 Our fathers did not consider
Your wonders in Egypt;
they did not remember the greatness of Your mercy,
but rebelled against Him at the sea, by the Red Sea.
8 Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
that He might make His mighty power known.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up,
so He led them through the depths as through the wilderness.
10 He saved them from the hand of him who hated them
and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 The waters covered their enemies;
there was not one of them left.
12 Then they believed His words;
they sang His praise.
13 But they soon forgot His works;
they did not wait for His counsel,
14 but they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.
15 He gave them their request,
but He sent a wasting disease on them.
16 They envied in the camp Moses
and Aaron, the holy priest of the Lord.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan
and engulfed those led by Abiram.
18 A fire broke out among their company;
the flame burned up the wicked.
19 They made a calf at Horeb,
and worshipped the molded image.
20 Thus they changed the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God, their Deliverer,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and marvelous deeds by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
had not Moses, His chosen one,
stood before Him to intercede,
to turn away His wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they despised the pleasant land;
they did not believe His promise,
25 but they grumbled in their tents,
and did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore He lifted up His hand against them
and swore to overthrow them in the wilderness,
27 and to overthrow their offspring among the nations,
and to scatter them in the lands.
28 They joined themselves to Baal of Peor
and ate the sacrifices given for the dead.
29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their acts,
and a plague broke out upon them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and interceded,
and so the plague ceased.
31 That was counted unto him for righteousness
unto all generations forever.
32 They angered Him also at the waters of Meribah,
so that Moses suffered because of them,
33 because they provoked his temper,
so that he spoke impulsively with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the nations
as the Lord commanded them,
35 but they mixed among the nations
and learned their deeds;
36 they served their idols,
which were a snare to them.
37 Yes, they sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons,
38 and poured out innocent blood,
even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus were they defiled by their acts
and acted like whores with these actions.
40 Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people,
and He abhorred His own inheritance.
41 He gave them into the hand of the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them,
and Israel was brought into subjection under their powerful hand.
43 Many times He delivered them,
but they were rebellious against Him with their counsel,
and were afflicted for their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless, He regarded their affliction,
when He heard their cry:
45 and He remembered on their behalf His covenant
and relented according to the greatness of His mercies.
46 He made them pitied
among all those who held them captive.
47 Save us, O Lord our God,
and gather us from among the nations,
to give thanks unto Your holy name
and to boast in Your praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting,
and let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!
Micah’s Idols
17 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver[a] that were taken from you, on which you put a curse, even speaking the curse in my ears—here is the silver with me. I took it.”
Then his mother said, “May the Lord bless my son!”
3 Then he returned the eleven hundred silver coins to his mother. His mother said, “I certainly consecrated the silver to the Lord, for my son to make a carved idol and a metal idol, so now I return it to you.”
4 When he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels of silver[b] and gave them to a silversmith to make a carved idol and a metal idol. And they were put in the house of Micah.
5 This man Micah owned a shrine. He made an ephod and household idols, and he hired one of his sons to be a priest for him. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his eyes.
7 There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah. He was a Levite from Judah, and he stayed as a resident foreigner there. 8 The man went from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. He came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, to do his work.
9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?”
He said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I can find a place.”
10 Micah said to him, “Live with me, and be a father and a priest for me. I will give you ten silver coins[c] a year, a set of clothes, and food.” So the Levite went in. 11 The Levite decided to live with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons. 12 Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will do good for me, for I have a Levite to be my priest.”
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, telling Moses to make it as He had commanded, according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it, brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out in front of our fathers until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the presence of God and asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.
48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands. As the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
or what is the place of My rest?
50 Has not My hand made all these things?’[a]
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? They have even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the disposition of angels, but have not kept it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, closed their ears, and rushed at him in unison. 58 And they threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 They stoned Stephen as he was calling on God, praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Having said this, he fell asleep.
8 And Saul was consenting to his death.
Saul Persecutes the Church
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
The Authority of the Son
19 Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, likewise the Son does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does. And He will show Him greater works than these so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all men should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24 “Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into life. 25 Truly, truly I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not marvel at this. For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.